Dissident Writer Liu Xiaobo Held in Secret after Sentence Ends

With his maximum six months detention just ended, the dissident writer Liu Xiaobo remained in custody in an undisclosed Beijing location today as authorities continued to hold him in violation of China’s criminal law.

Mr Liu, 53, was taken away by police on December 8, a day before the publication of the Charter ’08 document that he co-authored with more than 300 intellectuals appealing for a new constitution, human rights, elections, freedom of religion and expression and an end to the Communist Party’s hold over the military, courts and government.

“The Public Security Bureau said they must keep investigating his case,” Mr Liu’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, told The Times.